As the Louisiana governor’s race moves to a runoff, Democrat Rep. John Bel Edwards is trying to build support from GOP voters who didn’t choose Republican David Vitter in the primary.
Advertisement
The Republican USA senator David Vitter and Democratic state representative John Bel Edwards highlighted their strategies on Saturday night, as the candidate list was whittled to two in the governor’s race.
Nine candidates sought to replace Jindal, who has to step down after two terms in office and is now running for the GOP presidential nomination. Republican U.S. Sen. David Vitter bested rivals Angelle and Lt. Gov. Jay Dardenne to reach a runoff in the Louisiana governor’s race.
From what I gather from local reports, Jefferson Parish Sheriff Newell Normand is an influential Republican figure who supported a Vitter rival in the gubernatorial race. But amid continued talk of the prostitution scandal and a drumbeat of criticism about his attack-heavy campaign tactics, Vitter’s negatives spiked among voters. One PAC is running an “Anybody But Vitter” campaign.
Vitter, however, maintained a strong conservative base that carried him into the runoff.
The two runoff contenders immediately took swipes at each other, suggesting the themes voters can expect over the next month. “Voting for John Bel Edwards would be the same as voting to make Barack Obama governor of Louisiana”. Edwards, on the other hand, will use his smaller financial resources to let us know about Vitter’s off-the-field issues as well as the notion that a vote for Vitter is a vote for “Bobby Jindal on steroids”.
“The straight-arrow image (Edwards) has been able to project has been very effective”, said G. Pearson Cross, a political science professor at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette.
In a five-way race for Louisiana Attorney General, incumbent Buddy Caldwell, will have to come back in November to fight for his job. The top two finishers compete in the runoff, mandated when no one won more than 50 percent.
Minutes later, it was Vitter’s turn at the podium.
Vitter is considered the more conservative than Edwards, though that is narrow in Louisiana politics.
“We are better than this”.
“Sadly, he’s been on a campaign against me for a long time”, Vitter told the News Star.
“I want to invite all the voters out there, who didn’t vote for me tonight, whether they voted for Scott or Jay or – quite frankly – whether they voted for David Vitter; I want to invite them to join our effort”.
“I stood up to Bobby Jindal and his disastrous policies”, Edwards said in his campaign. The DGA is sending Scott Arcenaux, a Louisiana native who was previously executive director of the Florida Democratic Party, to assist Edwards’ campaign. Edwards is as close as the Democrats can get to a ideal candidate for governor – West Point grad, U.S. Army Ranger and 82nd Airborne commander, solid legislative record, history of working well with Republicans as well as Democrats, Catholic, pro-life, pro-gun, rural but with appeal to urban voters.
Advertisement
The Center for Public Integrity found that the almost $15.8 million spent on TV campaign advertising in this year’s elections was more than any other state.
